We often feel stressed if we have not yet made plans.

My mother, who is why I am in Italy to begin with (she’s . . . → Read More: Summertime in Italy ?]]> When May starts we begin to think about the summer ahead — about plans made and not made, about how the precious summertime weeks can best be spent.

We often feel stressed if we have not yet made plans.

My mother, who is why I am in Italy to begin with (she’s been here since the 1920s), said to me today : “the thing about Italy is that you can never have enough of it.”

I asked her what she meant (I have my own ideas but I always love to hear what she has to say.)

“The endless variety.”

“That you can do something different every single month of every single year, all through your life, and there will still be so much more to see and explore”.

She is right.  The possibilities in Italy are endless.

If you have not planned yet for this summer (remember that in Italy it is summer till October), please know that it is not too late — to discover new places, or to return to ones you loved from past travels.

We would love to help.  All you need do is to complete our no obligation travel planning survey.

If you would like one of the hand picked villas within our portfolio, we will be reserving for you directly with owners.

Your welcome will be especially cordial and I think that you will find yourselves feeling quite remarkably, straight away, at home.

In hotels we always book by room number and always through the owners and managers.

You will receive warm and special attention from all staff.

I leave you with two more photos of the some of the places you can be. All but two of these images were taken last week in Sicily, one of my favorite of all regions. Do consider it for this summer. But know please that, as my mother said, every region offers amazing discoveries.

Buy air tickets, gather the family, and please come to Italy. With our Ultimo service, there is nothing to think of at all except arriving. We plan every single detail for you.

Summertime in Italy awaits you.

Hierophany – from the Greek roots hieros, meaning “sacred” and phainein, meaning “to bring to light” – occurs on Rome’s birthday, when the beam of sunlight illuminates the Pantheon’s entrance completely.

As . . . → Read More: Magic at the Pantheon]]> As the children gamboled through the Pantheon, one of the world’s most interesting natural/architectural events there took place.

Hierophany – from the Greek roots hieros, meaning “sacred” and phainein, meaning “to bring to light” – occurs on Rome’s birthday, when the beam of sunlight illuminates the Pantheon’s entrance completely.

As if one need one more reason to celebrate Rome’s birthday, here we had it : light magic.

At midday (1 PM with daylight saving time) on April 21 the sun strikes a metal grille above the Pantheon’s doorway, flooding the colonnaded courtyard outside with light.

Mystery has always surrounded what is behind the unusual design of the Pantheon, built by the emperor Hadrian, and one of the most magnificent and best preserved of all Roman monuments.

I am intrigued by the theory that the church acted as a giant sundial, with a beam of light that illuminated him fully in the precise moment when the emperor entered the building.

And if you return to the Pantheon in the next day or so, as I did today, the effects are nearly as remarkable.

Those who love gardens — or people or dog watching, because both are great fun here, as Roman “society” and their four legged friends all enjoy converging at Landriana — will enjoy this post.

Marchesa Lavinia Taverna made her garden in . . . → Read More: The Gardening Event of the Year]]> Those friends who do not love gardens please read no further.

Those who love gardens — or people or dog watching, because both are great fun here, as Roman “society” and their four legged friends all enjoy converging at Landriana — will enjoy this post.

Marchesa Lavinia Taverna made her garden in 1956 in a luxuriant Italian-English style.  She spent 40 years extending and evolving the garden, aided by Russell Page whom she enlisted to give it structure.

We arrange visits to Landriana, with car and driver, from Rome – the distance is only about an hour.  We like to combine with this another of our arcadian garden favorites, Ninfa (which must be visited in a very special way) and, if time permits, an extraordinary hill-top archeological site close by which is unknown to almost everyone.

We have an outstanding docent to accompany you on your garden visits, if you wish.  She has studied gardens, professionally designed gardens and gardened herself in Italy for close to three decades.

Every year (this year April 20 – 23) Landriana hosts a magnificent Garden Fair.  We have one client who plans her annual travels around its dates.

The olive trees, cypresses and meandering borders frame exhibitors’ displays, creating individual gardens within a garden.

We never miss the Garden Fair here.  If you love to garden, nor should you.

Much of what grows on our terrace comes from Landriana.

Clients and friends have told me how much inspiration they find here for their own gardens.

Exhibitors, many of whom speak English, are relaxed and approachable. The atmosphere is party-like and sweet.

I buy my summer hats at the Landriana Garden Fair.

The Acquisitions, on their way home to the terrace

A small tunnel gives no fright

And Claudio la Rocca can shine a light

On this spectacle in white

Then Insiders Italy can open the Pyramid of Rome for you !

This one was better than most in offering a beautifully landscaped island of three cypresses.

And there were . . . → Read More: Hope on the Motorway]]> On the way to Umbria on Friday we stopped near Terni for gas, air in the tires and for me, an espresso. We stopped at an Agip, one of thousands in Italy.

This one was better than most in offering a beautifully landscaped island of three cypresses.

And there were two recycling bins for patrons’ use, not common features at Agip, where aesthetics and environmental sophistication normally leave a little something to be desired.

Like many motorway service stations, this one had a bar (advertised here as “Pizzeria-Ristorante-Birreria”).

Into it I ventured for an espresso, my eyes and sensibilities blinkered, since the gastronomic standard at bars along Italian secondary roads and autostrade is dispiriting. I joined a large group of others as I stepped up  to the bar counter. My first surprise ? An outstanding (and not simply good) espresso.

“A drop of milk — hot or or cold — to go with it ?” said the bar man, below.

“Brown sugar or white ?”

I looked around.

Through the door streamed a group of paunched truckers, well dressed businessmen in jackets and ties, single men and families. All drew close to the long rows of stainless steel platters and pans or studied the handwritten menus, written out on two blackboards.

Patrons fell silent, as they considered their options.

I looked too.

The Menu ("Hot First Courses", "Hot Second Courses")

Insalata di farro, pomodoretti e rucola, con mais (Spelt salad with little tomatoes and arugola, with a little corn)

The standard fare at rosticcerie/bars along Italian secondary roads and autostrade is by and large preservative-laced, prepackaged sandwiches; commercially packaged snack foods; dry rolls with inferior, scanty fillings and previously frozen pastries and pizza. Which is why I have not eaten anything in any of them for years. When I was a little girl, the autostrada AutoGrill were a pleasure, with jolly families piling out of the family Fiat and ordering large meals served by real waiters who brought both a menu and a wine list to you — and, if you were lucky, the thrill of a table on the covered bridge that spanned all the way across the A1 autostrada. More typical now is a depressing motorway convenience store chain called “On the Run” with the English language subtitle “Fast, Fresh Friendly”. And where offerings are an affront to the palate and to the country.

Enter Andrea, who made my coffee : a dynamic, seemingly ever-smiling Umbrian who has an equally entrepreneurial friend, a cook at a locally-famous restaurant in nearby Orte. Andrea bought and manages this motorway eatery, and put his friend the cook in the kitchen.

When Andrea saw me photographing a succulent farro salad, he left his espresso machine to ask me what I thought of his motorway restaurant.  I told him that I had never seen anything like it. He beamed, saying la sfida era di offrire un ristorante di alto livello su una strada nazionale (“the challenge was to offer a restaurant of a high level along a national road”). And so he has. Four middle-aged women in aprons bustled in the kitchen, fully visible through large glass windows. Serving platters were constantly emptied, removed and replaced.

Here is more off what was on offer at lunch time on this particular day.

Gnocchetti fatti in casa con sughetto di pomodoro (homemade gnocchi with a tomato sauce)

Cicoria saltata in padella con aglio, olio e peperoncino (chicory greens with olive oil, garlic and chile pepper)

Contorni (vegetables -- I counted eight)

In a large room beyond the bar a merry scene was ongoing, not unlike a Sunday restaurant. This was a real restaurant, albeit with lunch carried by patrons themselves to tables. There were on the table cruets of extra virgin oil and real OGP balsamic vinegar from Modena. The average price of a pasta course was US $7.50, and a second course about $9.

I said to Andrea that I had never seen puntarelle — a Roman specialty, a short-season vegetable served as a crisp winter salad with an anchovy, garlic and oil dressing — on offer anywhere along an Italian motorway. “I serve them because I like them” said Andrea, simply. “Romans like them too.”

Puntarelle

Every vegetable looked just as fresh, simply prepared and appealing as the puntarelle. Legumes were beautiful. Meat was nearly exclusively “white meat” (pork and chicken) and was prepared and served with ample quantities of vegetables.

Wine, proper silverware and glasses, excellent bread

“Let me give you supplì al telefono to try” said Andrea.  ”They are excellent. We make our own pizza dough of course, and take great care with all of our ingredients.”

Supplì al telefono (arborio rice croquettes, here with mozzarella and saffron) and various pizze

Andrea bustled around with a spatula and a small paper tray, and soon handed a warm parcel to me. “Buona Pasqua !  Buon appetito ! Buon viaggio !”

And : “the next time you must try my cannelloni.”

On Saturday we marketed.

Vincenzo prepares our shopping

Eastertime carciofi

On Sunday morning we Easter basket hunted.

A present from the Easter Bunny in the salad patch

And on Sunday we cooked

Vignarola

and feasted.  Church . . . → Read More: A Roman Easter Feast]]> We are between research trips this weekend, and are happily at home in Rome.

On Saturday we marketed.

Vincenzo prepares our shopping

Eastertime carciofi

On Sunday morning we Easter basket hunted.

A present from the Easter Bunny in the salad patch

And on Sunday we cooked

Vignarola

and feasted.  Church bells rang across Rome.  We celebrated Passover too.

La Colomba and the breakfast table

Carciofi alla Romana

La Pastiera Napolitana

Buona Pasquetta (Easter Monday) to all !

Today another saint, this time associated with a bird. Or many thousands and thousands of birds, the remarkable swift which traditionally return to Rome around the day of San Benedetto, March 21.  (“San Benedetto, rondini sotto il tetto”, or . . . → Read More: Awaiting the Swifts]]> Two days ago I wrote about a saint, Joseph, who is associated with a pastry.

Today another saint, this time associated with a bird. Or many thousands and thousands of birds, the remarkable swift which traditionally return to Rome around the day of San Benedetto, March 21.  (“San Benedetto, rondini sotto il tetto”, or “Saint Benedict, swifts under the eaves”.)  You will see them in every region of Italy this summer, from Sicily to Alto Adige, until July (a little later in high altitude areas.) For background information on the swift, I urge you to read Doctor Doolittle’s Post Office.

The sound of the swifts, for those of us who love them, is hauntingly beautiful. Is it a warble ? Is it a song ? It is loud, it is profoundly alive, it is high pitched and is usually heard in the chorus of many swifts swooping acrobatically, with magnificent grace, across the silvery morning and evening skies. Every one of a swift’s meals is caught in flight so they are crying out as they are eating, or eating as they are crying. Some swifts (one assumes young males) intentionally seem to cut off other swifts in flight, parroting aggressive Roman drivers. Swifts come back to their birthplaces to mate, and male swifts are showing off to females their aeronautical talents.

The most aerial of birds, and the fastest fliers of all fliers, the swifts fly as many as 200,000 kilometers from their winter home in sub-Saharan Africa to their birthplaces to breed and nest.

What must it be to fly over the Pantheon for three months ?  Or over Piazza Navona ?  Or over the acqueducts ?  Swifts fly only in the cool hours of the day, or when it is about to rain. They do not land during flight.

I often pour myself a glass of cool wine and go onto the terrace just to watch the evening show, which is endlessly beautiful and diverting, a ballet in the skiies, enlivened further by the remarkable song/cry/call of the birds. I love the moment, so quick that you will miss it if you blink, when the swifts retreat for the evening and the bats come out.  When this happens, it is time for dinner.

In Rome no swifts are left after mid July, this likely triggered by the lack of nutritious insects high in the air. At which point, in our family, begins again the count-down for next spring’s return of the swifts… on (or close to) March 21, the day of San Benedetto.

The pasty takes different names depending what part of Italy has prepared it. Zeppole is the name in southern Italy, or sfinge di . . . → Read More: Buon San Giuseppe ! (Happy Saint Joseph’s Day)]]> Today is Father’s Day in Italy. And also the feast day of Saint Joseph, the day when Italy wide, Italians celebrate Mary’s husband with a special pastry made in his honor.

The pasty takes different names depending what part of Italy has prepared it. Zeppole is the name in southern Italy, or sfinge di San Giuseppe. In Rome we call it the bignè di San Giuseppe. Why is Joseph honored with a pastry ? One legend recounts that during a period of unemployment as a carpenter, Joseph prepared and sold bignè himself. Bignè are made with flour, milk, butter, egg and lemon rind, are deep fried (in olive oil ideally), puff as they fry, then are filled with a pastry cream and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Bignè are taken very seriously in Rome. Baked or fried, for example ? (Fried of course.)

This man at Pasticceria Dolci Desideri was despairing as his number seemed never to be called, and he had been waiting and waiting for the signorina to prepare a tray of bignè for him to take home.

Why is the signorina not calling my number ? Will there still be bigne left ?

Every year Insider’s Italy awards a top prize for the best bignè from among the pastry stores where we are on that day. One year we undertook our contest in Naples, and on another year in Florence. Another year we were in Parma. But this year we had the advantage of being in Rome, and thus could in the days before March 19, sample bignè  across Rome until we had a short list of competitors.

Difficult work, of course, but someone must do it, and who better than Insider’s Italy ?

Today, the actual Festa di San Giuseppe, saw the final competition, with three contenders jostling for top prize.

The Final Competitors

Who would it be ?

The bignè di San Giuseppe from Roscioli ?

Roscioli

The smaller bignè di San Giuseppe from Dolci Desideri ?

Dolci Desideri

The bignè di San Giuseppe from Volpetti ?

Volpetti

Isabel, a serious bignè connoisseur,

Judge #1

and Robert, with the “Papa” crown on his brow,

Judge #2 : "Number 1 has the best balance of pastry and cream in terms of proportion of pastry to cream and by far the winner for overall taste."

To Work !

A bit too heavy, and too much pastry cream

Auguri di San Giuseppe !

Today is International Women’s Day and the event, which dates from 1909, is being celebrated Italy-wide with imagination and gusto. Mimosa (Australian acacia) — its distinctive, yellow snow-ball flowers and harbinger-of-spring scent — is the symbol of the Festa, and is for sale at nearly every florist and also decks restaurant tables and . . . → Read More: Buona Festa della Donna !]]> Donne ! 

Today is International Women’s Day and the event, which dates from 1909, is being celebrated Italy-wide with imagination and gusto. Mimosa (Australian acacia) — its distinctive, yellow snow-ball flowers and harbinger-of-spring scent — is the symbol of the Festa, and is for sale at nearly every florist and also decks restaurant tables and market stalls all across the country.  From the Alps to Sicily, all national museums, archaeological sites, villas and monuments are free for women today.

Aperitifs are offered in gardens that are not normally open; there are guided tours on themes relating to women in antiquity and modernity; celebrations in piazze (often with bands); and special, more intimate concerts, as well as conferences on subjects ranging from labor laws to feminism to maternity leave.

Today is however principally a day of levity, and is one of my favorite days to be traveling in Italy. Friends tonight in Trento participate in a Happy Snow Ladies Night, with women skiing free down magnificent downhill runs while wearing mimosa garlands and crowns. Pastry stores have filled their windows with mimosa-inspired desserts. Day-long film festivals celebrate Italian luminaries like Sophia Loren, Anna Magnani, Gina Lolobrigida.

What sort of trips do our clients who are women want ?  We planned a 50th birthday party three years ago for 12 dear friends who took over a 12 bedroom Tuscan villa and over the course of a week celebrated their friend and their friendship. Highlights were day trips to neighboring hill towns and to Siena, yoga classes, wine tastings, swimming and spa services, picnics, massages and long walks, as well as open air cooking classes in an outdoor kitchen located directly in the villa’s organic vegetable garden.

Last June we planned a week long cooking class for three sisters, alternating pizza making classes, pasta making instruction and hands-on teaching of myriad regional dishes. We’ve also planned indulgences : personalized shopping trips and visits to high-end, artisinal stores that are owner operated (leathers, jewelry especially).

After researching and tracking down the relations of a writer for the New York Times, we fully planned her trip into the Abruzzi region, as she visited for the first time her grandparents’ remote ancestral village (where she had never been) with the intent, among other things, to discover how the much loved family meatballs were made.  Our legendary Gustavo, driver/translator par excellence, was at her side throughout, translating each Italian word for her so that she could write it all down, and then publish a well received travel and food article about the trip.

We planned a special graduation trip last April for a Los Angeles mother, her daughter Melanie and Melanie’s best friend. Fresco-making workshops were one of the highlights, as were private tours to see the art and architecture that the girls had studied in high school.

We have worked with brides to organize weddings, pre-nuptial evenings and wedding lunches and dinners, and especially enjoy planning relaxing and wonderfully happy honeymoons.

This evening four women, friends for years, are sitting down to dinner in Umbria, at a lovely inn and restaurant where La Festa della Donna is celebrated with particularly pretty table settings and a lovely menu.

Calice di Benvenuto (Aperitif)

Sformatino di patate e carote con zabaione al parmigiano (Flan of potatoes and carrots with a Parmesan zabaglione)

Risotto ai carciofi e perini (Risotto with artichokes and tiny tomatoes)

Filettino di maiale al sagrantino con pinoli e sultanina e patate croccanti (Pork fillet with a sauce of sagrantino wine, pine nuts and sultanas, served with crispy potatoes)

Mimosa

Il tutto accompagnato dai ns vini selezionati in abbinamento (with appropriate wines for each course)

Caffè con cioccolatino (Espresso and chocolates)

All for the excellent price of 35 Euro per person, around $45.